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You’re sick of hearing about it already, right? Well, voting closes this Friday (you HAVE already voted, HAVEN’T YOU) so soon I’ll have no choice but to shut up about the Perth Festival web site and our Webby Award nomination. ahem.

Anyway, we made it into the newspapers… a small piece in the Arts section of Wednesday’s West (thanks to Ben for spotting it, and Al for rescuing a copy from the cat’s litter tray for me), and the a mini “feature” in the Perth Voice, complete with picture. I had to hunt to track down a copy of the Perth Voice – finally found one in a newsagent in Leederville. I joked that the paper was so obscure that no one would even see it, but then later that night we saw Paul, and he announced that he’s seen me in his local paper.

So there you go!

Remember… voting closes this Friday. We’re in Websites > Living > Events. Sign up here!

Heh, kinda. the Perth International Arts Festival web site – aka, my pet project – has been nominated in the events category of the 11th Annual Webby Awards (the “Oscars of the Internet”, dontcha know).

It’s pretty exciting stuff. Everyone involved is stoked to be nominated – that includes Isabel at Block Branding who did the gorgeous design, and Georgia, formerly of the Festival, now at PICA, who managed (babysat) the site and obsessed over it day in day out for months. The actual winners are announced at the beginning of May. While the official winners are up to the judges and completely out of our hands – I wouldn’t even know who to try to bribe, heh – there’s also a People’s Voice Award for each category. So, faithful readers, you could help to make a local site achieve international fame and glory. Sign up now and vote – it’s pretty easy. The site is under “Websites” (duh), then “Living”, then “Events”. Go, go and do it now. I’ll wait.

Back already? Told you it was easy – thanks a lot for your help. Now tell everyone you know to do the same. We can make the difference!

If she ever wondered why some of her altos were a little giggly at late afternoon rehearsals, it’s because we had a three hour break between the end of our last class for the day and the beginning of the chorale rehearsal, and we used to mostly spend it in the tavern, drinking bourbon, eating Kinder Surprises and making the little toys that you get in the Kinder Surprises.

I really enjoyed chorale (and not just because of the bourbon and chocolate). Because I had years and years of choir training, I can blend nicely with other voices and tell right away if I’m not in tune, but I cannot for the life of me sing solo. During my first year at the Con, we sang Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, which is still one of my favourite pieces of music. It’s spine-tingling, ephemeral and downright terrifying in some parts.

I also like the Kinder Surprise toys although the chocolate is a bit sickly.

Tonight was the official opening of the 2007 Perth International Arts Festival. Hey, what a fantastic web site! I wonder who we know who was involved with that…

The Supreme Court Gardens in the city centre hosted the opening event: firstly the specially commissioned overture, composed by Iain Grandage and performed by the Festival Journey Chior and Tetrafide percussion ensemble, with visuals onscreen from BLINK, a photography exhibition from regional WA.

Then a screening of the brilliant stop-animation film version of Peter and the Wolf by BreakThru Films with the live score performed by the Australian Youth Orchestra. Although it’s for kids as well as adults, I found the film quite scary, and the intensely atmospheric music only added to the unsettling feeling.

Here’s a trailer from the world premiere of the film in London.

The animation is just beautiful.

Being a family event, the evening was quite short – the film is 30 minutes long, and we were home by 10.30pm – but it was a good start to what’s going to be a really great festival program.

I got the big lens out and did some scurrying around the sides of the choir stand, and managed to get a few passable photos of Mr Grandage, Prue Ashurst, the other director of the choir, and the Tetrafide percussionists – just more material for slow days in the infamous photo project!

Iain Grandage conducting the choir:

Tetrafide Percussion Ensemble: